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"What with ad-optimizing technologies and filter-defying product placement, search-based ad serves, real-time media bidding, and location-based features for mobile devices," the author writes, "it would be easy to conclude that advertising has flipped to all science and no art." But she highlights six campaigns to prove that advertising creativity will never cease: 1) Wonderful Pistachios, whose ads include memes such as YouTube's infamous Honey Badger and Secret Service agents partying with prostitutes; 2) Coca-Cola China, which created a TV-plus-smartphone game for the Hong Kong market; 3) Nabisco's "Daily Twist" campaign for Oreo cookies, in which members of the public nominated news pegs and company designers sculpted cookies to illustrate them; 4) Kia Motors America, whose ads are populated with anthropomorphic hamsters; 5) Marks and Spencer, which introduced "shwopping"-- a campaign with Oxfam to encourage clothing recycling; and 6) Neiman Marcus and Target, which teamed up on some merchandise, became the sole sponsors of ABC's drama Revenge, and then hired the cast to perform in five long-form commercials.

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Harvard Business Review was launched in 1922 by a Harvard Business School dean who wanted to equip managers-in-training with better tools of the trade. Its initial print run was only 6,000 copies, and its initial subscription price--$5--was a point of contention between the dean and his outside publisher. For the next 25 years the magazine barely broke even. But between its founding and World War II, the HBS faculty became competent at translating rigorous research into relevant reading for practicing managers, and by the end of the war HBR was poised to capitalize on the ensuing business boom. Circulation shot up from 14,000 in 1945 to 243,000 in 1985. Kirby, an editor at large for HBR, traces its history from the Roaring Twenties to the present day. "The threads being woven into HBR's fabric as the years passed," she writes, "were not just timely topics for consideration but distinct approaches to studying them." Those topics included "scientific management," women in the workforce, and the power of the consumer, to name just a few. And those distinct approaches brought names such as Peter Drucker, Michael Porter, and Robert S. Kaplan into our pages. Kirby writes as well about some of the colorful personalities behind the scenes at HBR, and about the magazine's falling and rising fortunes. As it enters its 90s, she says, "it does so with a special provenance, some special strengths, and a deeply informed notion of what the management agenda should be."

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For half a century the US has sat at the center of the global economic system, and Western-style capitalism has dominated. Now, it's no secret that the center of gravity is shifting. The advanced economies that in 2000 consumed 75% of the world's output will, by 2050, consume just 32%. Meanwhile, the emerging economies of the world--Brazil, India, China, and others--will surge forward. As these fast-growing, low-income economies mature, will they adopt the practices of the old guard? Or will they make their own way, and create the next prevailing version of capitalism? What new opportunities will that create for firms around the world? "Standing on the Sun" tackles these questions with fresh ideas and provocative examples. Based on firsthand observations of companies defying capitalism's old rules yet prospering, the authors outline new principles for commercial success. Among them: (1) The obsession with return on equity gives way to more broad-based measurements of success, (2) Adam Smith's invisible hand of the market is redeemed by the "invisible handshake" of collaborative networks, and (3) Businesses take ownership of the impacts they now call "externalities." Those who need to understand the emerging shape of global capitalism will benefit from "Standing on the Sun."

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Capitalism remains the most powerful, flexible, and robust system for driving broad-based prosperity and enhancing quality of life. But keeping capitalism on track will depend on our ability to rethink the priorities that guide everyone in the system, from entrepreneurs to regulators to investors. In particular we will need to throttle back the headlong pursuits of competition and ROE, and that process begins with recognizing them for what they are: runaways. The runaway, a concept from evolutionary biology, is explained best by the peacock's tail. That feature grew ever more flamboyant across the centuries thanks to a simple fact: Peahens showed a preference for large-tailed mates. But after many generations the tail created a problem: It required more nutrients and was heavy, slowing down its owner and making him easier prey--eventually causing the peacock population to decline. Capitalism is on a similar runaway trajectory, say Meyer and Kirby, mostly because it has taken the ideas of competition and ROE--brilliant in their time--too far. By reining in these metrics and developing new ones more suited to today's world, we can reformulate capitalism and break the runaway cycle.

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Companies have long prospered by ignoring what economists call externalities - the various impacts that a business has on its broader milieu but is not obliged to pay for. (Pollution is the classic example.) Now, claim companies must adopt a very different stance, thanks to growing industrial scale, better sensors, and heightened sensibilities. Increasingly, business impacts are laid at companies' doorsteps. The best companies don't react defensively but apply their energies to mitigating the problems they contribute to. Using an externalities-based framework will help managers deal with rising - and often competing - demands for corporate responsibility in a way that is defensible to all stakeholders.

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It's hard to imagine a leadership image more iconic than the ringmaster. Merely say the word, and a picture springs to mind of a tall, dashing captain presiding over, well, a circus - a world full of both chaos and opportunity for delight. It's the ringmaster's job to make sense of that environment, anticipate the unexpected, and direct the attention of an audience with as many as 20,000 people - a massive community of stakeholders - to make sure they get their money's worth. The circus has evolved over the decades to keep pace with market realities, and the right talents for its front man have changed as well. In P.T. Barnum's day, he was master of three rings, a structure designed to keep visitors from seeing the whole show in one sitting so they'd come back another day. If he wasn't outright owner of the circus, he was head trainer of its equestrian team, a graduate of the stable and, in earlier times, the cavalry. But Chuck Wagner, of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's 138th Edition, is none of those things. He's part of a new breed of ringmaster - a musical-theater star who brings Broadway-style entertainment to the show. Now, the circus has only one ring, and the goal is to make sure audience members leave thoroughly wowed. In a world saturated with entertainment options, they won't come back the next day - but they will tell their friends to. In this conversation with Special Issues Editor Julia Kirby, Wagner talks about the challenges of being the man in the middle of the twenty-first-century circus - his relationship with the cast and the crew, his responsibilities to the modern audience, and how he balances tradition with progress to help Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's circus remain "the greatest show on earth."

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This HBR Case Study includes both the case and the commentary. For teaching purposes, this reprint is also available in two other versions: case study-only, reprint R0711X, and commentary-only, R0711Z.

Castlebridge & Company, a maker of high-quality outerwear, is a century-old British institution. Its headquarters remain in London, but most of its manufacturing has moved offshore. With the last domestic factory slated to close, the firm's executives struggle to preserve the "Britishness" of the brand. For historian Niall Ferguson, the plant closure is a logical step. The British public has been down this road, as have foreign consumers of British products. The real risk to the brand, Ferguson asserts, is the potential loss of its high-class cachet--not its national identity. Fashion reporter Dana Thomas argues that by broadening their markets beyond the super wealthy, luxury brands have made themselves vulnerable to economic fluctuations. Cutting costs by moving production offshore is inevitable, so Castlebridge should, with characteristic British candor, come clean about it. If the firm shines light on its native roots and its international production, it could establish a winning reputation as a truly modern, global brand. Dov Seidman, CEO of LRN, takes issue with how Castlebridge has gone about the shift to offshore production. In a world where reputation matters more than ever, the firm can't just outperform competitors. It must "outbehave" them, by keeping its promises and acting in a principled manner. Seidman advises the company to rediscover and recommit to the core values that have brought it this far. Writer and consultant Gill Corkindale looks inside Castlebridge, focusing on the staff that will stay on as the company restructures. She recommends a trust-building people strategy, modeled by the CEO, which emphasizes forthright communication from management, as well as genuine solicitation of, and response to, the opinions of employees.

learning objective:

In this fictional case study, an upscale fashion house based in London must assess the advantages and disadvantages of shifting all its local production offshore to improve profit margins. The reader will consider questions such as whether the move would dilute the company's brand, how to market the company's increasingly global character, and how to handle public outcries against a plant closure.

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For teaching purposes, this is the commentary-only version of the HBR case study. The case-only version is Reprint R0711X. The complete case study and commentary is Reprint R0711A.

Castlebridge & Company, a maker of high-quality outerwear, is a century-old British institution. Its headquarters remain in London, but most of its manufacturing has moved offshore. With the last domestic factory slated to close, the firm's executives struggle to preserve the "Britishness" of the brand. For historian Niall Ferguson, the plant closure is a logical step. The British public has been down this road, as have foreign consumers of British products. The real risk to the brand, Ferguson asserts, is the potential loss of its high-class cachet--not its national identity. Fashion reporter Dana Thomas argues that by broadening their markets beyond the super wealthy, luxury brands have made themselves vulnerable to economic fluctuations. Cutting costs by moving production offshore is inevitable, so Castlebridge should, with characteristic British candor, come clean about it. If the firm shines light on its native roots and its international production, it could establish a winning reputation as a truly modern, global brand. Dov Seidman, CEO of LRN, takes issue with how Castlebridge has gone about the shift to offshore production. In a world where reputation matters more than ever, the firm can't just outperform competitors. It must "outbehave" them, by keeping its promises and acting in a principled manner. Seidman advises the company to rediscover and recommit to the core values that have brought it this far. Writer and consultant Gill Corkindale looks inside Castlebridge, focusing on the staff that will stay on as the company restructures. She recommends a trust-building people strategy, modeled by the CEO, which emphasizes forthright communication from management, as well as genuine solicitation of, and response to, the opinions of employees.

learning objective:

In this fictional case study, an upscale fashion house based in London must assess the advantages and disadvantages of shifting all its local production offshore to improve profit margins. The reader will consider questions such as whether the move would dilute the company's brand, how to market the company's increasingly global character, and how to handle public outcries against a plant closure.

Publication Date:

Discipline:

Source:

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

For teaching purposes, this is the case-only version of the HBR case study. The commentary-only version is Reprint R0711Z. The complete case study and commentary is Reprint R0711A.

Castlebridge & Company, a maker of high-quality outerwear, is a century-old British institution. Its headquarters remain in London, but most of its manufacturing has moved offshore. With the last domestic factory slated to close, the firm's executives struggle to preserve the "Britishness" of the brand. For historian Niall Ferguson, the plant closure is a logical step. The British public has been down this road, as have foreign consumers of British products. The real risk to the brand, Ferguson asserts, is the potential loss of its high-class cachet--not its national identity. Fashion reporter Dana Thomas argues that by broadening their markets beyond the super wealthy, luxury brands have made themselves vulnerable to economic fluctuations. Cutting costs by moving production offshore is inevitable, so Castlebridge should, with characteristic British candor, come clean about it. If the firm shines light on its native roots and its international production, it could establish a winning reputation as a truly modern, global brand. Dov Seidman, CEO of LRN, takes issue with how Castlebridge has gone about the shift to offshore production. In a world where reputation matters more than ever, the firm can't just outperform competitors. It must "outbehave" them, by keeping its promises and acting in a principled manner. Seidman advises the company to rediscover and recommit to the core values that have brought it this far. Writer and consultant Gill Corkindale looks inside Castlebridge, focusing on the staff that will stay on as the company restructures. She recommends a trust-building people strategy, modeled by the CEO, which emphasizes forthright communication from management, as well as genuine solicitation of, and response to, the opinions of employees.

learning objective:

In this fictional case study, an upscale fashion house based in London must assess the advantages and disadvantages of shifting all its local production offshore to improve profit margins. The reader will consider questions such as whether the move would dilute the company's brand, how to market the company's increasingly global character, and how to handle public outcries against a plant closure.

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